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Tuesday, May 30, 2023 | 
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Dr. Fauci asks Americans to ‘be part of the solution’ and get the COVID-19 vaccine

Dr. Fauci said Americans have a chance to be a part of the solution rather than the problem when it comes to the coronavirus

By Herb Scribner Herb Scribnerhscribner@deseretnews.com
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appears at a news conference about the coronavirus at the White House in Washington on April 9, 2020.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appears at a news conference about the coronavirus at the White House in Washington on April 9, 2020.

AP

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently said in a new interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that Americans have a chance to be a part of the solution against the coronavirus by getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

What’s going on?

Fauci asked all Americans to get the vaccine when its available in their area in order to help stop the massive spread of the virus, CNN reports.

  • “Say, ‘I’m not going to be one of the people that’s going to be a steppingstone for the virus to go to somebody else. I’m going to be a dead end to the virus,” he said.
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Vaccine is out there:

Officials across the country are preparing for the first wave of vaccine distributions. Pfizer and Moderna are waiting on approval for emergency use authorizations, CNN reports.

The vaccine will be ready for shipment once they’re approved for the emergency distribution, according to CNN.

Moderna said Monday that it has asked U.S. and European regulators to allow emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine after new study results confirm the vaccine offers strong protection against the novel coronavirus.

Moderna received the final results from its study of the vaccine over the weekend, which led the company to file for emergency use authorization, according to the Associated Press.

The company found the vaccine is more than 94% effective.

Moderna said there were 196 COVID-19 cases from participants in its massive study of 30,000 people.

  • 185 participants who got COVID-19 took the placebo.
  • 11 got the real vaccine.
  • 30 people who got severely ill in the trial received a dummy shot.
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Key quote:

“I allowed myself to cry for the first time,” Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, told The Associated Press. “We have already, just in the trial, have already saved lives. Just imagine the impact then multiplied to the people who can get this vaccine.”

Context:

Moderna will be the second company to apply to and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine. The company applied on Nov. 20 with data that showed a high efficacy rate, according to CNN.